During the initial round of his Senate confirmation hearings on Wednesday, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who was nominated by President Donald Trump for the position of US Department of Health and Human Services secretary, appeared to be contradicting his previous statements. Members of the Senate Finance Committee questioned Kennedy about his past positions and comments on a variety of topics such as abortion, vaccines, and school shootings. Kennedy seemed surprised at times and consistently downplayed or denied controversial statements he had made in podcasts, conferences, or TV interviews, despite senators directly quoting him.
Here are six examples of Kennedy’s responses during the hearing:
1. Kennedy denied being ‘antivaccine’, despite his history of activism and controversial statements about vaccine safety and effectiveness. He claimed his previous comments had been taken out of context.
2. Kennedy’s stance on abortion has shifted over time, with conflicting statements about his beliefs on government involvement in reproductive rights.
3. Kennedy denied comparing the CDC to Nazi death camps, despite previous statements he made at a 2013 conference and a 2019 conference.
4. Kennedy distanced himself from previous claims linking school shootings to antidepressants, stating that the issue should be studied further.
5. Kennedy denied saying that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender, despite comments he made in a 2023 podcast interview.
6. Kennedy clarified his comments on COVID-19, stating that he did not believe the virus was genetically engineered to target specific races, despite previous remarks at a dinner in July 2023.